- Author: Betty Homer
While the autumn weather is still nice, consider taking a day trip to Alcatraz in the San Francisco Bay. I went primarily to view the Ai Weiwei art installation, @Large, which is on display now until April 26, 2015. In attending this thought-provoking art exhibit, I discovered that there were/are gardens on Alcatraz which, at one point, were cared for by inmates who were incarcerated on Alcatraz, and families who lived on the Rock. For the inmates in particular, the gardens enabled them to re-connect with humanity and served as a form of therapy/rehabilitation (to which we gardeners can all attest all too well). Indeed, the inmates who tended the gardens, would sacrifice their drinking classes, to carry flowers back to their cells (which are tiny) to brighten up their space. Volunteers currently tend to these gardens which consist primarily of old roses, fig trees, bulbs, and succulent plants (please see attached photos). These gardens provide a welcome contrast to the heaviness that is the prison itself. The gardens are decentralized and can be found in pockets throughout the island. For bird enthusiasts, Alcatraz is also a great bird habitat at certain times of the year.
For information about either the Ai Weiwei art installation or the gardens at Alcatraz, please see:
http://www.nps.gov/goga/planyourvisit/aiweiwei.htm and http://www.alcatrazgardens.org/visit.php